Tower of Blight

Beastborne Chronicles #6

by James T. Callum

The Tower of Blight has invaded Hal's home of Brightsong.

Though the Abyss beckons to Hal, an old foe resurfaces. Poisoning his home, the Shadesblight cannot be ignored. The Tower of Blight will corrupt the entirety of the Shiverglades if Hal does not stop it.

With bitter winter setting in, Hal will have to battle more than the corruption on his doorstep, but the very elements themselves. As the armies of the Twelve Tribes march on Brightsong, Hal and his allies don't have the luxury of time to deal with the Tower.

Every floor presents life-or-death battles, even as loot and new monster powers dangle like bait. But there is a silver lining. The arrival of the Tower allows for a new ally to join the Bravers, one with a penchant for creation and thievery in equal measure.

But even with this new ally, Hal and his companions will be hard-pressed to climb to the top of the Tower and snuff out the Shadesblight before it destroys their home.

Genres: Fantasy

578 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2024

About the author

My name is James T. Callum and I’m not going to talk to you in the third person or make it seem like I’ve got some publisher or editor who has a bio on me.

I'm always available to talk, connect with readers, fellow authors, and lovable book nerds:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JamesTCallum
Website: https://www.jamestcallum.com
Twitter: @JamesTCallum

This is just me, talking to you, the reader. I’m no different than you, I love reading and gaming just the same as everybody else.

In fact, I’ve loved reading for as long as I could remember. From the very first fantasy book I read, The Wizard of Earthsea, I was hooked.

For just as long I’ve also been an avid gamer and DND player (as well as other tabletop RPGs). Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Illusion of Gaia, and on through the years as stories and graphics became better and better.

You’ll be able to find hints of inspiration from all sorts of RPGs and video games in my works. From the Final Fantasy series to Warcraft, Age of Empires to Anno, and games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne. Because who doesn’t love a little cosmic horror thrown in for fun?

These games (and countless others) have inspired me ever since I was a kid, and they continue to serve as my muse now that I’m much older.

Writing has always been my greatest aspiration and with your help, I hope to make it a full-time job. At the time of this writing, I still work a day job like most people. It is only thanks to Patreon that I was able to dedicate some of my spare time to writing.

So, if you’d like to provide direct support and help me achieve my goal of writing full-time (so I can write even more stories for you awesome people!) you can hop on over to my Patreon page where you’ll find tons of content.

Patrons get access to advanced chapters of upcoming books, special discord roles and discussion channels, early releases of books before anyone else, maps, cover reveals, voting, and a lot more.

And if you spot a typo or error, shoot me an email at: typos@jamestcallum.com, and I will get it fixed and re-uploaded ASAP. I aim to provide the best possible reading experience and as soon as I find an error I fix it. Once it’s fixed and updated, your reading device should update automatically with the improved version.

Reviews

[Brad Hines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Book, Still angry

There is such a thing as to much foreshadowing. For over half this series we have been told about the twelve tribes coming and in the last book it was supposed to be only a few weeks away. Then we get this whole book which was an amazing side quest and that would have been fine (SPOILER ALERT) MC accidentally gets teleported away as everyone arrives. Maybe it’s just me but I can’t stand when a series just feels like filling book after side quest and the main plot or overall arc doesn’t move forward several books in a row.

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Soooooooo friggintastic! I loved this book, this series! So that's a fine mess of an ending! Wow! Lucky me the next book is already downloaded! 😆 This time Hal and friends/family not just need to get stronger but, they finally hafta confront the Shadesblight! Or die trying! Oh and finally, Finally Hal got a card to improve Noth's armor, and 'Shrubley's' coffee beans was a happy note in Hal's day!
So yeah, grab the audiobook and find out how that works out!

Here's a couple of quotes:

"If you could give them a v12 engine, they would have it disassembled before afternoon tea. By dinnertime, they would have upgraded it beyond recognition to run on banana peels and grass clippings."

“One ring to bind them,” Val whispered. “My precious!” Shadowmachi wheezed."

[John-Torleif Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much growth for everyone in Brightsong!

Hal can’t seem to get a break, but he is growing to embody exactly what the Worldshard seems to need from him. I love that we continue to see cameos from the other Worldshards.

What is Rabst doing? And why does she seem to be working against Rinbast? What will the 12 tribes do to Brightsong when they see its power? Will they feel threatened? Or will their seers recognize the hope that it represents?

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wordy

A perfect example of why use two sentences when two pages will do. For all that, I still enjoyed the story though I found myself skimming more than I prefer.

One big issue this book had, aside from verbosity, was the abundance of useless POVs. So many that do nothing but add word count. It's not like most of those characters mattered in the slightest for the story. None of the povs advanced a plot, character arc or anything. Just pointless and slowed down the pacing.

[Adam Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of fun, but the progression of the story feels a little lacking.

So we get plenty of cool power ups for Hal and company, but the story doesn’t feel like it progressed much. We got new added quests and things that going forward will be cool, but this felt like a series of side quests that kept things from really moving the plot forward much. And then we get a cliffhanger of an ending. So I enjoyed it, but it was a little bit of a letdown.

[Christopher Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pointless cliffhanger once again

For the 2nd or 3rd time in the series this volume end with Hal being randomly inexplicably teleported while on a time crunch to artificially inflate the tension for the next volume while also managing to undermine the power of the Manatree and spoiling an otherwise excellent instalment.

[Mike Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome But

This book leaves off with the same question of last book. Our boy is supposed to meet with the tribes, but somehow he won’t at this time. Anyway he’s lost in a dungeon and needs to get out and back to his settlement.

[David M Drewry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved It

As usual this has BB

Even another great book in the series. Good characters and their adventures with treasures to be had and always a conflict and battle to be solved and,won. Can't wait until next book is released.

[Shane Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

A solid book that was a very enjoyable read

I would say my favorite addition to the book was Hermes who's antics made me laugh. This book also seems to be working towards solidifying lore and world building with nods to other series within the universe.

[Pyralis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chill with the multiverse stuff

It's a good story underneath all the multiverse, parallel dimensions, and constant callbacks to other books. Great motivator to read other books, but my opinion is still valid that it confuses me to everlasting flork.

[Christian Sparks · Rating 5 out of 5]

great

Well I am really really happy with this one! This book had All sorts of different and interesting things going on. I am curious about where some of the threads are going but Ian sure that it’s goi g to be awesome! Start at book 1 they are
All good!

[James Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Damn I'm just blown away,the book was definitely the best one to date. I can't wait till the next book now,it going to be a long wait but definitely well worth it 😌

[Trent Hilderbrand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best one so fat

And that's saying something. A truly enjoyable read with characters you grow to love. I will miss them when the story ends.

[Nathan Lowery]

Great read

Once again another great adventure of Hal. Can't wait for the next one and hope it comes soon. Too good to wait

[Tj Penn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first quarter of the book is very heavy with lit rpg crunchyness and crafting that I didn't really care for. The story felt a little 2nd hand to that, but the 2nd half really came through

[Emmanuel Obi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great LitRPG

Looking forward to the next book. 4 stars because this book was much harder to follow compared to the first 6 books.

[Atlas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dropped this series because Noth's character got on my last nerve. Her personality and back story are fine and were potentially interesting but she is such a flat character. All her motivations are all Hal related and she doesn't care about anything or anyone else unless it benefits him. She had this problem in the last few books but it just gets slowly worse throughout the series. None of the other female characters have this problem so its disappointing that she is written this way.

[Vader · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish